After suffering two successive losses in the past six months, Congress leaders and workers said the party needs to work hard to reorganise and strengthen itself.
“After back-to-back losses, the party needs to reinvent itself. For this, it will have to give a free hand to those handling the party affairs. But whether this happens or not will be interesting to see,” said a senior Congress member and an ex-MLA.
With Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh dissolving the State, district and the block committees as per the direction of the central leadership, the party circle is rife with speculations about the nature of the new committees that are likely to be announced within a month and the people who would be assigned jobs under the new regime.
While morale of the party workers is at its lowest, post the Lok Sabha debacle, sections within the party believe the occasion also provides an opportunity to resurrect the party State unit. “In the past few years, the party unit had largely gone into an inert mode with the real power centered somewhere else,” said a leader.
“It seems we have already made a beginning with the party being run from Rajiv Bhawan (DPCC office) once again,” a senior party leader said. “The party wore a deserted look even during the campaigning days. However, it is not unusual for an organisation to take a backseat, while a party is in power. With the Congress remaining in power for 15 years, the then chief minister was bound to enjoy the real fiat. However, it created a vacuum in the party across hierarchy with similar faces being at the helm. The biggest challenge is to fill in that vacuum.”
While Delhi Congress spokesperson Mukesh Sharma said all sections of society would be given representation in the new organisational structure, party insiders said presence of several national-level leaders in the Capital would make job of the incumbent president Arvinder Singh more difficult in striking a balance between the young and the old.
“With all the sitting MPs from Delhi, including the Union ministers, having lost in the recent election, they are keen to play a decisive role in the State politics. Like Ajay Maken, who was one of the major power centres in Delhi politics. He was rather elevated in the Centre to keep a check on factionalism in Delhi politics, giving a free run to former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. His influence will be palpable in the decision making of the State unit in future,” said a senior leader.
The advent of the Aam Aadmi Party had made it necessary for the party to think out of box to recover lost ground, he added.
